There is a variety of reasons why proposals fail. Sometimes a proposal simply does not follow the donor’s guidelines. Sometimes, there are just not sufficient funds to support all projects, even if the proposal is of high quality. And sometimes, it is merely bad luck. There are a couple of reasons for a proposal to fail thought that is more structural and concern the basic approach towards writing a proposal. In the following six posts, we are going through some of the common reasons why proposals fail. Our focus is not on the ‘quick fix’ problems, but the underlying illnesses in some proposals which good proposal evaluators can easily see the symptoms of.
Do you think, one of your proposals could suffer from one of these syndromes? Do you think, this could be the reason for past failure? If this is the case, do not despair. The first step to becoming better is always to realize that there is a problem. If you want to learn from past failures, take a long and honest look at your proposal and consider if you made one of these fundamental mistakes. If your perspective is not clear, consider asking someone not familiar with your project to read it with the points mentioned above in mind. Sometimes an outsider can give a much clearer picture of a problem.
Alta Alonzi is a writer and researcher focusing on international development funding and grassroots NGOs. She works with the fundraising consulting company Philantropia conducting research for clients ranging from small NGOs to UN organizations. She also works closely with FundsforNGOs running training webinars, contributing resource guides, and updating the Premium donor database.
